Clever use of space on the boat

I'm giving you all a break from hearing about my new chicks to share some space saving solutions that I experienced while on my in-law's boat in Alaska last month. Don't worry, the chicks are all doing great and are now out in the chicken coop (they were stinking up my front hall!) enjoying more space and some ants!

So we were on a 42 foot Grand Banks for 2.5 weeks in the end of June. As you can see below, the outside of the boat has a fly deck on the very top where you can drive the boat from outside, and a deck around the entire main level including a low wide back deck.The boat has 2 sleeping rooms, 2 bathrooms, and one main cabin area with a table, 2 chairs, a bench along the wall, a kitchen space, and a high bench seat by the wheel.

 

You can see the deck was fairly narrow, with a low full railing and a higher wire railing. We were pretty careful when Little M was walking around the deck. She always had her life jacket on her, and she also always had one of us right with her to grab the handy loop at the top of her life jacket in case she decided to look overboard. We didn't have any close calls with her on the trip, which was great!

 The fly deck, the wheel you can just see a curve of below Little M's toes.

Looking forward from the table area, the kitchen is to your left in the photo, my husband is driving the boat at the inside wheel. In front of him there were about 4 different storage areas under the surface that the computer is sitting on. They stored everything there from can openers (to the left by the microwave), to pencils (in a small compartment under the computer at the front), to maps and papers.

This view looks from the table area towards the front of the boat again, but towards the kitchen. behind my husband you can see the short door that leads down to the V berth where we slept. There is a short little fridge and freezer in there, a gas powered 3 burner stove top and oven, and a sink that was big enough for Little M to have a bath in :)

This view looks from behind the kitchen area towards the side of the boat. You can see the L shapes bench and a bit of the folding table. The table was really neat, it had to long sides that folded down, and a narrow middle strip that stayed put. When the sides were up there was plenty of space for all 6 of us to eat meals, but when they were down you could walk between the tables edge and the bench.

This is the V berth where we slept for the trip, me a little curled up to avoid kicking Little M's head - see her there taking a nap? You can also see the little hammock strung to the right for gear. These are your typical kids stuffed animal hammocks, used here to stash anything and everything! We kept our rain gear (when it was dry), the Ergo carrier, Little M's warm outside clothes, and there were some spare blankets too. You can see the bottom of the little bookshelf on the wall at the top of the picture, which they were using for movie storage (there is a TV and DVD player in the captains room apparently) but we put a couple of Little M's books and a field guide up there too during our stay on the boat. One of the bathrooms was down here - very simple, a one stall shower with a toilet and sink in it.

Here you can see the back of the boat - see the dungy and the one kayak stacked up? The kayak I was in to take this picture gets stowed on top of the other 2 boats. Up on the fly deck at the very top, they had a number of waterproof type bins with secure lids where they stored other items - extra food, parts for the dingy and kayaks, etc. Under the cover in the fly deck is where we stowed Little M's car seat while we were on board. It was wrapped in the plastic bag from the airline and stayed protected and dry there. The cat litter box was also up in that area, as was more storage for non-perishable items.

This is the neat pulley system they have for getting the dingy and the larger of the 2 kayaks up on top of the boat. It makes it easy to move the heavier items up out of the water and onto the top of the captains berth area.

You may have noticed the small dog they had on the boat - Cocola. They also had one of their two cats on board with them - Honda. Here she is below. Behind her you can also see the fake grass area for the dog to do her business. Clever idea to allow the dog to be with them for the months they are on board!

 


What I really liked was all the built in custom storage. The boat had everything from those compartments in the front by the wheel and computer, to dresser drawers of different depths according to the boats exterior hull under our beds (deeper high ones, shallower low ones). There was even a small compartment in the table surface that could hold placemats. It was so impressive to see how much function (and stuff!) could be fit into such a small tight space on the boat, and it really made me certain we could do more with the spaces we have in our home. I'm now finding myself imagining builtins everywhere around our house! I'm sure they wouldn't have quite the same charm though :)

Alaska 2011: Ketchikan to Juneau on a 42' Grand Banks

I wrote a paragraph or two every day we were on vacation, so that I would be able to remember places we stopped and things we saw and did, but I'm not going to go into that much detail here. Instead I'll share mostly pictures of where we went and what we did, so I apologize in advance because this will be a bit picture heavy.

 

This is my husbands Dad & Stepmom's boat. A 42 foot Grand Banks.When we flew into Ketchikan we took the water taxi across to where they were docked. We got some groceries at the nearest grocery store, and slept our first night on the boat! We stayed in Ketchikan that night because it was rather late in the day by the time we were done shopping and getting all oriented with the boat stuff.

This is my husband's stepmom (grandma), our daughter Little M, and my husband's dad (grandpa).

Little M had a lot of fun walking around the deck in her life jacket. I was a bit worried that she would hate being in it, but she quickly realized that putting it on meant going outside, which she has always loved.

We went into Misty Fjord, see the signs of glaciation on the rocks? It was so pretty in there!

My husband loves to fish so we went to many little creeks and kayaked up to fly fish and spin. Little M and I enjoyed hanging out by the water while he fished.

We went to Wrangell and then Petersburg, then headed out towards Juneau. We saw several glaciers when we were up there; this was the first. It was gorgeous!

Sometimes the creeks were fairly flat and the flats were very grassy. Its not hard to imagine sneaking up on a bear by accident in this sort of habitat! We were pretty careful and called out to the bears "hey bear, hi bear, how are you bear" to let them know we were coming :)

We saw lots of beautiful wildflowers. Here is a lupine on a sandy shore. My husband saw a beaver further up this stream, and there were moose tracks nearby. We didn't catch any fish here though.

 Not only did I see my first icebergs on this trip, I also got to touch icebergs, kayak amongst them, and we even saw & heard a glacier calving to create more icebergs! The day we spent in Tracy Arm with the icebergs & glaciers was so amazing!

Whenever we could (especially on the second half of the trip), we got off of the boat and kayaked to shore to get Little M walking around and seeing different things than the boat. We saw bears and dolphins in Fords Terror, not to mention cool water plants!

Little M thoroughly enjoyed herself on the boat and off. She got rather wet playing in streams, that's for sure!

We hiked in to some spectacular wetlands and lakes, and got to see some rare plants while we were at it.

We saw killer whales many times, and humpback whales too. And we had dolphins jumping off the bow of the boat! It was pretty great :)

We saw several black bears (one a mama with 2 cubs), as well as some grizzly bears. We got quite close to some of the bears, both in the boat, and the mama black bear with cubs my husband unintentionally got close to while fishing. We got really close so numerous seals, even some mama seals still on icebergs with their babies!

One of the great things of the trip was that got to see so many new-to-us bird species! This marbled murrelet (thanks to my good friend Kyle for helping me ID the murrelets) was just one of the great birds we saw. I was very glad we had taken our Sibley guide, without it I would have been so frustrated - nothing like a great field guide :) For new birds, we had pacific loon, red throated loon, common murre, pigeon guillemonts, arctic tern, surf scoter, white-sided scoter, and greater scaup. We also got some great pictures of other birds that we had already seen in other places, like spotted sandpipers (including shots of a baby!), bald eagles, winter wren, barrow's goldeneye, and harlequin ducks.

Needless to say, the trip was pretty amazing. I'm sure hoping we'll be back someday soon!

Honey we're (almost) home!

So we fly back to Seattle tomorrow mid-day, and then drive the 4-ish hours home... The past 2 weeks have at times dragged and at times flown by. I'll be sad to leave Alaska, the boat, my in-laws, and all the wildlife, but oh-so-happy to be home!

I can't wait to see how my plants have grown in the garden (not looking forward to the weeds' growth though!), can't wait to pick the dogs up and get sloppy dog kisses, and definitely can't wait for a real shower. Not to mention sleep in my own bed!

The boat has been great though. We've met some really nice people on the trip (boaters are so friendly for the most part!). And there has been so much time to just relax and watch the scenery and the wildlife. Oh the wildlife! We've seen so many things! Black bears, grizzly bears, killer whales, humpback whales, moose, so many bald eagles, and oh so many new-to-me species of birds (I mean lifer birds for all you serious birders out there).

I won't do the breakdown here and now; partly because I still haven't sorted all the pictures, and partly because there is still one more day to go. But expect a list post coming up soon of birds & other wildlife seen. I imagine there might be some of the nicer pictures in that post too :) Also you can expect some sort of post about what to pack for a boat vacation (with a toddler) & perhaps some thoughts on storage solutions in boats!

Washington we will see you tomorrow!

Petersburg Hello

We've been having an amazing time on our boat trip in Alaska so far! We've got a ways further to go, but have made it to Petersburg. It is a really nice little town, with amazing scenery. I saw my first iceberg (very small, more a bergy-bit) yesterday, which was quite exciting, but everyone we talk to here says we will see lots more as we move on past Petersburg. Hopefully we will see lots more whales in the next while as well. So far we have seen a pod of Killer whales and several small groups of Humpbacks, as well as some dolphins or porpoises. There have been lots of new bird species, too many to list at the moment, but I am getting good pictures and will share when we get back! Here are a couple nice shots to tide you over until then. I don't want to spend too much time sitting in this wireless spot, as it is finally sunny outside!!

Absence ahead :)

My parents will be arriving tonight, so I don't expect to post much until next week. Hopefully while they are visiting we will get lots of little projects done around the house and property, and I'll have lots to blog about next week.

Hopefully I'll also have some pictures of the spadefoot (formerly spadefoot toad) that I found in the garden while digging a row for my bean seeds earlier this week too!

Have a great weekend!